A new
USA Today/Gallup Poll was released today. The results are disturbing, if not surprising.
WASHINGTON -- Amid falling gas prices and a two-week drive to highlight his administration's efforts to fight terrorism, President Bush's approval rating has risen to 44% in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. That's his highest rating in a year.
The poll also showed likely voters evenly divided between Democratic and Republican candidates for Congress, 48%-48%. Among registered voters, Democrats had a 51%-42% advantage.
Follow me below the flip to find out why I think these results should not really surprise any of us, and why they should serve as a wake-up call to the D.C. establishment.
So, the president's approval rating is up. Should we be dismayed? You bet.
The results come seven weeks before closely contested elections for control of Congress. Republicans have struggled to overcome problems, including Bush's low ratings, continuing violence in Iraq and the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina.
They also come as terrorism is making headlines: an alleged plot to blow up planes headed from Britain to the USA, the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and weeks of focus by Bush and other top Republicans on terrorism and whether Democrats can protect the country.
The new findings reflect "a consistent, persistent, tenacious effort to make ... the Republican Party's ability to deal with terrorism the No. 1 issue in the campaign," said political scientist Richard Eichenberg of Tufts University, who has studied presidential job ratings during wartime. He called it "a carbon copy" of the successful 2004 playbook.
Bush's approval rating has edged up largely on the strength of Republicans coming back to the fold -- 86% with him now compared with 70% in May.
So, what does all this mean? Well, if these results are to be believed, one thing it means is that Repulican voters are just as motivated to get out to the polls now as democratic voters are. Take a look at the likely vs. registered voter numbers above. There is a whopping 9% difference between these numbers in favor of the Republicans. This, in the midst of a debate about whether we should TORTURE people, in the midst of Iraq continuing to be a bloody sinkhole, and in the midst of an ever growing escalation towards war with Iran. Depressing? Hell yes. But why is it happening?
The new poll found likely voters more prone to vote for candidates who support Bush on terrorism, 45%-28%, and evenly divided on those who support and oppose Bush on Iraq. More than a quarter said Iraq is their top concern this fall. For the first time since December 2005, a majority of people did not say the war there was a mistake; the split was 49%-49%.
Bush's terror-fighting techniques drew mixed reviews. A 55%-42% majority supported his policy of wiretapping phone conversations between U.S. citizens here and suspected terrorists in other countries without getting a court order.
How can the American people support these policies, you may ask? Well, there are many possible explanations. However, I believe the most simple explanations are often the correct ones. The explanation here is simple. On the biggest issues of the day, what and where are the alternatives?
Some evidence: Let's take a look at wiretapping first. The democratic response to wiretapping (with the notable exception of people like Senator Feingold) basically boils down to: "We believe in spying, we just think the President should get a court order to do it." WRONG!!! This is a whiny, pathetic, technical answer to a very simple issue. The correct response is: "George Bush is spying on everyday people. Why wouldn't he let a secret court review the wiretaps if something fishy wasn't going on? We don't believe in spying on everyday Americans, just terrorists."
Let's take a look at the torture issue. For this one, I'm not even sure I have the democratic postion. While all the talk about Democrats not getting equal time on this issue is valid to an extent, where are they on this issue? This is torture for Christ's sake. Newsflash: Making "Mavericks" within the Republican party look like the good guys on this story, or hoping this story will somehow "implode" the Republicans is a wussy, feeble response to such a serious issue. The correct response is: "We are better than terrorists. We will not lower ourselves to their level. We will not put our troops in harm's way. Bush supports torture, we don't."
Let's talk about Iraq. Ugh. Here is one thing I can't emphasize enough: Saying "This is the Republican party's mess, and they should be responsible to come up with a plan" is a weasly, whiny, and irresponsible response. Any democrat without an answer for the question of what they would do if they were in charge of Iraq does not deserve a single vote...not one.
The Iraq war continues to be problematic for Bush. Six in 10 people said he does not have a clear plan for handling Iraq (two-thirds said the same for Democrats), and 56% said Congress is not doing enough to oversee U.S. policy there.
Three-quarters said Iraq is in a civil war, though the administration says that is not the case.
It doesn't matter if the democrats CAN'T do anything about Iraq. It doesn't matter that it is not their mess to clean up. HAVING NO ANSWER FOR SINGLE BIGGEST ISSUE OF OUR GENERATION IS GROSSLY, UNBELEIVABLY IRRESPONSIBLE. Is it any wonder so many people still plan on voting for Republicans? They have a plan: That plan, as we all know, is no plan. And how do we know this? Because they tell us about it all the time. They are going to do the same thing they have always done. The difference between them and the Democrats is that they voice their know-nothingness loud and clear for all to hear. They don't waffle, they don't whine, they don't vassilate. I'm not saying that Iraq has a simple solution by any means, but it is not a strech to say that the position that Bush simply "mishandled" things after the war is ridiculous. Bush lied about the war, and everybody knows it. Democrats, at the very least, should be saying that they were tricked if they voted for the war, and that Iraq is never going to get better whether we leave tomorrow or ten years from now. Then go from there. People do not agree with Bush's policies on Iraq, but they will not vote for whiny crybabies who want to argue technical bullshit. For god sake's, the war was a terrible idea. Just fucking say so, and then back it up with some sort of credible alternative, even if it isn't the ultimate or "greatest" solution.
I will close by saying this: The democratic establishment better take a long, hard look in the mirror. Novemeber is just around the corner. The idea that if they just sit back and wait the Republicans will self destruct on their own has cost us control of both the congress and the presidency. We need unified voices out there speaking loudly and clearly on the biggest issues our country has ever faced. We are at a perilous time right now. For the sake of our country, I sure hope that our party is strong enough to stand up and win. Because if we can't win this year, how can we ever win?